VOODOO JOHNSON…Rock With Balls !
Interview with Paul Gethin
1. Who are Voodoo Johnson and what’s main idea behind your name?
You would not beleive how many names we went through! Voodoo Johnson came about quite randomly… however it does fit and has a dark Bluesy feel to it… We like it 😉
2. What about your first steps,how did you start the group ?
Well, Carl and I are brothers, so we’ve known each other a while;), but the band really got going when Carl and Dave (the drummer) started mucking around with a crappy little four-track tape recorder in my shed in about… 2003?
We played around with that for a while, and the songs were getting stronger and stronger, so we thought it’d be worth getting some other people involved. We hate people we don’t know ;), so we kept it in the family and I was asked to play rhythm guitar and our sister’s boyfriend to play bass. We then happened to bump into a local singer when we were out in Welshpool (our home town) one night, and that was the line-up for Polarian (or Voodoo Johnson Mk. 1).
We went through a few members after that, and changed the name after a year or so and finally met Kev via myspace in November 2007. Rich was already on board at that point (our first bassist had left, and Rich is my sister’s boyfriend; keeping it in the family again!), so that was our present line-up set. Think we’d all agree that it’s never been better!
3. What’s your goals as a band?
Well….. I can say we’re deadly serious about what we do and get driven really by our fans as much as our own esteem. We do.. of course we do want to get up with the best!
4. Do you have any management or are you into a research about it?
Yes we have recently joined with a great manager, she’s a legend, a real rock to us! Infact she managed Headswim in the 90’s and got them to Donnington.. they were one of our favourite bands!
5. How would you describe your music in terms of influences ?
As a band, it’s people like Zeppelin, Guns ‘n’ Roses, Pearl Jam and that whole classic rock crowd. Carl and Dave like a little bit of everything and Kev, although he only seems to know about five bands, has a weird fondness for Garbage ;). I’d say i’m the only down-the-line rocker among us; I love my tasty axe action!
Of course, with Carl as the main songwriter, his influences will come out the most strongly in our recordings, and that tends to be people like Monster Magnet, Queens of the Stone Age, Alice in Chains, Aerosmith, and quite a few more. All quality bands.
6. Let us know about your latest mini CD, “II”. We want all the details..
II is a good all round taster of things to come, we have had a massive response since its release… we’re all still excited about it….. but its just the beginning!
7. Why did you include a note at the CD cover about the bonus track “Broken” and this track appears as a part of the official tracklist at the back cover?
Broken was a track that was selected for the E.P however it was never mentioned or promoted, so although it was part of the EP it was our little secret… it shows another side to us.
8. Are you going to record a full album, any contacts with labels?
Yeah we have Label interest.. maybe we can say more another day;0..
Er, eventually. We’ve just recorded a couple of new demos and we’ve added those to the live set. We’ve actually got loads of material written, it’s just a matter of getting into one of those expensive studios and recording it. Hopefully later in the year. We’ll keep everyone posted.
9. How can someone find your CD?
At the moment, being self released through our myspace page and we’re also on I Tunes……. and of course at one of our shows !
10. Recently, you had a great success at a Kerrang magazine band contest. Tell me about it..
We’d actually forgotten we had entered! so it came as quite a suprise to find out we had made the finals! Rumours have it that over 600 bands entered… we’re stoked to have made the final 6 bands…. we had entered our EP ‘II’ which did the initial work… and we finished 2nd overall.
11. What about Rock Against Child Pornography?
What an honour to part of this!.. it feels amazing that this can be promoted through our music and of course any music. I think though music, its a way to raise the awareness to the younger generations as well as old. We’re doing our bit and are proud to be too
The team at ‘Rock Against Child Pornography’ are a true inspiration, we have some serious respect for those guys… you know who you are;) ! NOW JOIN IN…. START RAISING THE AWARENESS TOO
12. Any kind of advice for all the newcomer bands out there ?
I don’t know; we’re still up and coming ourselves! From the experience we’ve had so far, I’d say the quality you really need is perseverance. So many bands get pissed off when people don’t like them or nobody turns up to their gigs that they just give up. Don’t do that! If you’re any good and you can just keep going, somebody’s bound to notice eventually. Also, use your brain; don’t sign the first thing that gets put in front of you if it’s not right, otherwise you may end up working the streets to pay the record company back, and nobody wants that. Talent can help too, but it’s not essential. Just ask Franz Ferdinand 😉
MYSPACE PROFILE FOR VOODOO JOHNSON : http://www.myspace.com/voodoojohnson
